He looked at her with a sidelong glance. Her face had taken a cadaverous hue, and her forehead seemed to shine as if bedewed with moisture. Her eyes, under their knitted eyebrows, were directed for the moment in fierce abstraction among the thickets of the gardens, so that he had ample opportunity for observing her. ‘Such a fabrication, mischievous as it is, is too idle to cause you concern, Plautia,’ he said, breaking silence. ‘I see it has troubled you as I dreaded; but, in my humble opinion, you consider it too much.’ ‘Can I help, and I a woman?’ she retorted fiercely; ‘but I will be even with the coward.’ ‘He must first be found; and I think the best plan would be to commence with the individual with whom your name has been linked in such a shameless fashion.’ ‘Do you think it is he?’ ‘Nay, I cannot say. But as a beginning must be made somewhere in the inquiry, that is the point I should select. I don’t see but what it is as likely as any. He is tall, well‐favoured, conceited, like all Pretorians, and more so, probably, since the Prefect makes much of him. He has probably told his comrades some such story, as a boast of his own superior attractions. It is a weakness of the military nature, and of the gorgeous Pretorian nature in particular, to be vain of a supposed fascination over females.’ Plautia smiled disdainfully. ‘I had the opportunity of coming in contact with one of his conquests the other day,’ continued Afer, ‘a young girl with whom he is infatuated, they say. One of the lower people only. The daughter of a potter in Surrentum, who has some sort of reputation for his work. Wishing for some specimens of his handicraft, as a memento of Surrentum, I went thither to purchase, and the girl herself attended on me in the shop. A tall, lithe, handsome girl, undoubtedly, and with a manner altogether superior to that of her class, however she came by it.’ ‘And do you think it likely, with such a paragon as this under his sway, he would ever trouble himself to invent a lie concerning another?’ said Plautia. ‘Oh, in the most natural manner possible,’ laughed Afer. ‘You know not these men. Victory does not appease them. They are insatiable after fresh conquests, like Alexander.’ ‘Indeed—is it possible?’ She proceeded calmly to gather together the skirts of her garments; and beyond the pallor of her face, the result of her great mental excitement, there was nothing unusual in her manner. ‘If I can help you in the matter, command me, Plautia,’ said Afer. ‘I ask nothing save your profound silence—I will take the affair into my own hands.’ ‘It will be well dealt with.’ She bowed her head. ‘I suppose the Centurion is to be found somewhere in the vicinity of the villa?’ ‘He left yesterday for Rome on an errand for the Prefect.’ ‘You appear to be very intimate with him and his movements,’ remarked Plautia drily.